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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §2.27.1-2.27.2

Expulsion of the Aeginetans and Settlement in Thyrea

Passage 173 of 917 · Greek

Summary

The Athenians expel the Aeginetans from their island and send their own colonists. The Spartans, to repay past favors during the earthquake and Helot revolt, allow the exiled Aeginetans to settle in Thyrea on their border.

§2.27.1ἀνέστησαν δὲ καὶ Αἰγινήτας τῷ αὐτῷ θέρει τούτῳ ἐξ Αἰγίνης Ἀθηναῖοι, αὐτούς τε καὶ παῖδας καὶ γυναῖκας, ἐπικαλέσαντες οὐχ ἥκιστα τοῦ πολέμου σφίσιν αἰτίους εἶναι·
In this same summer, the Athenians also expelled the Aeginetans from Aegina, both themselves and their children and wives, accusing them of being not least responsible for the war against them.
καὶ τὴν Αἴγιναν ἀσφαλέστερον ἐφαίνετο τῇ Πελοποννήσῳ ἐπικειμένην αὑτῶν πέμψαντας ἐποίκους ἔχειν.
It seemed safer, since Aegina lies close to the Peloponnese, to hold it by sending out colonists of their own.
καὶ ἐξέπεμψαν ὕστερον οὐ πολλῷ ἐς αὐτὴν τοὺς οἰκήτορας.
And not long afterwards they dispatched the settlers to it.
§2.27.2ἐκπεσοῦσι δὲ τοῖς Αἰγινήταις οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι ἔδοσαν Θυρέαν οἰκεῖν καὶ τὴν γῆν νέμεσθαι, κατά τε τὸ Ἀθηναίων διάφορον καὶ ὅτι σφῶν εὐεργέται ἦσαν ὑπὸ τὸν σεισμὸν καὶ τῶν Εἱλώτων τὴν ἐπανάστασιν.
To the expelled Aeginetans, the Lacedaemonians gave Thyrea to inhabit and its land to cultivate, both because of their hostility toward the Athenians and because the Aeginetans had been their benefactors at the time of the earthquake and the revolt of the Helots.
ἡ δὲ Θυρεᾶτις γῆ μεθορία τῆς Ἀργείας καὶ Λακωνικῆς ἐστίν, ἐπὶ θάλασσαν καθήκουσα.
Now the territory of Thyreatis is on the border between Argolis and Laconia, stretching down to the sea.
καὶ οἱ μὲν αὐτῶν ἐνταῦθα ᾤκησαν, οἱ δ’ ἐσπάρησαν κατὰ τὴν ἄλλην Ἑλλάδα.
Some of them settled there, while others were scattered throughout the rest of Greece.

Notes

  1. §2.27.1τὴν Αἴγιναν ἀσφαλέστερον ἐφαίνετο ... ἔχειν — A construction framed around the impersonal verb ἐφαίνετο, the neuter comparative adjective ἀσφαλέστερον, and the infinitive ἔχειν. The accusative τὴν Αἴγιναν, modified by the participle ἐπικειμένην, serves as the direct object of the infinitive ἔχειν (to hold, to occupy).
  2. §2.27.1πέμψαντας — An aorist participle in the accusative plural masculine. Since the implied subject of the infinitive ἔχειν (the Athenians) is treated as an accusative subject, the participle agrees with it in the accusative.
  3. §2.27.2ὑπὸ τὸν σεισμόν — The preposition ὑπό with the accusative expresses temporal proximity ('at the time of', 'around'). Here it refers to the great earthquake of 464 BC that struck Sparta.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §2.27.1-2.27.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:2.27.1-2.27.2

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